Ohio House votes to waive two make-up days for school districts, Senate introduces calamity days bill

Members of the Ohio House of Representatives.Eric Albrecht, Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio House passed on Wednesday a bill to give schools two additional calamity days and two teacher professional development days, a
response to winter weather causing Ohio school districts to exhaust the five calamity days allowed by law.

"In my life, if you missed work because of snow, severely cold temperatures... you go back to work the very next day and you start making up for those days missed because in the private sector, you don't get paid if you don't serve your customers," said Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon. "I know that's a novel idea in the public sector where they expect to get paid for nothing, for no services rendered, which is exactly what this bill is saying we're going to do."

Toledo Democratic Rep. Teresa Fedor said teachers, superintendents
and school board members care about instruction time but also make
student safety a priority.

"You can use all the rhetoric in the world about unions and teachers and all this stuff but if something were to happen, we'd be grieving in our chamber," Fedor said.

The amended bill gives schools two additional
calamity days and two additional teacher professional development days, which means students could be excused for four days while teachers would be required to report to work on two days.

Bill co-sponsor Brian Hill, R-Zanesville, said granting more calamity days will alleviate pressure on superintendents to hold school when it's dangerous for students to travel to school.

"The number of calamity days should not outweigh the safety of our school children," Hill said.

Days can be made up in 30-minute increments, and districts
can choose to make up additional days if school boards decide. Starting next year, instruction time will be measured in hours instead of days, eliminating the need for calamity days.

The House passed House Bill 416 in a 80-16 bipartisan vote.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which has other ideas for how to help schools
facing a high number of cancellations.

Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., introduced a bill Wednesday that
would require schools to first use five contingency days penciled into
school calendars before using additional calamity days. Senate President
Keith Faber, R-Celina, told reporters the bill would also allow schools
to make up time on Saturdays and give local school boards the option to
forgive any days after the 10 covered by statute.

"We
think that’s simple fair and balanced, using existing law all the
things they were required to pre-plan for, and then giving them
discretion going forward based on each school district’s needs and
academic performance," Faber said.